The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on February 29, 2004. With eleven awards, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King tied with Ben-Hur and Titanic as the most awarded films in Oscar history.[11] Moreover, its clean sweep of its eleven nominations surpassed Gigi and The Last Emperor's nine awards for the largest sweep for a single film in Oscar history.[12] The film was also the tenth film to win Best Picture without any acting nominations.[13] Best Director nominee Sofia Coppola became the first American woman and third woman overall to be nominated in that category.[14] By virtue of her father, Francis Ford Coppola and her grandfather, Carmine's previous wins, her victory in the Original Screenplay category made her the second third-generation Oscar winner in history.[15] At age thirteen, Best Actress nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes became the youngest nominee in that category until being surpassed by Quvenzhané Wallis, who was nine at the time of her nomination, in 2013.[16] With Sean Penn and Tim Robbins's respective wins in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories, Mystic River became the fourth film to win both male acting awards.[17]

In light of the record low viewership from the preceding year's ceremony, the Academy sought to make several changes and hire a new producer for the upcoming show. AMPAS announced that unlike previous years where the ceremony typically was held in either late March or early April, the festivities would be held in late February.[24] AMPAS director of communications John Pavlik explained that the purpose of moving the telecast a month earlier was "to bolster the ceremony's sagging television ratings and protect the Oscar's status as the nation's pre-eminent awards event."[25] Despite several Academy officials denying such reasons, some industry insiders speculated that the earlier Oscar date was also implemented to mitigate the intense campaigning and lobbying during Oscar season put forth by film studios.[26] This marked the first time since the 14th ceremony that the awards were held outside the aforementioned time frame.[27]

In August 2003, the Academy hired film producer Joe Roth to oversee production of the ceremony. The following month, Roth recruited veteran Oscar host Billy Crystal to emcee the awards gala for the eighth time.[28] To stir interest surrounding the awards, Roth produced three trailers promoting the ceremony that each was set to different pop tunes (Madonna's "Hollywood", OutKast's "Hey Ya!", and Pink's "Get the Party Started"). The trailers contained clips of previous ceremonies with slogans such as "Expected the unexpected" and "It's Oscar night" occasionally flashing between scenes.[29] These promotional spots were shown at movie theaters, on several cable channels, and at participating Blockbuster stores.[30] The Academy also granted talk show host Oprah Winfrey unprecedented access to rehearsals and meetings as part of a month-long series on her eponymous talk show covering behind the scenes preparation of the telecast.[30]

In September 2003, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) initially banned distribution of screeners to awards groups, citing fears of piracy.[31] Many independent film studios and prominent film directors objected to this decision charging that this would hurt smaller films for Oscar consideration since they heavily rely on screeners to lure Academy members' attention.[31] The following month, AMPAS and the MPAA reached an agreement in which Academy members would receive the screeners on the condition that they keep them out of reach from people unaffiliated with AMPAS.[32] In December 2003, a federal judge in New York overturned the ban citing that it violated federal antitrust laws.[33][34]

At the time of the nominations announcement on January 27, the combined gross of the five Best Picture nominees was $638 million with an average of $127 million per film.[35]The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $338.3 million in domestic box office receipts.[35] The film was followed by Seabiscuit ($120.2 million), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World ($85.3 million), Mystic River ($59.1 million), and finally Lost in Translation ($34.8 million).[35]

Of the top 50 grossing movies of the year, 45 nominations went to 10 films on the list. Only Finding Nemo (1st), The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2nd), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (3rd), Seabiscuit (16th), Something's Gotta Give (21st), The Last Samurai (23rd), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (31st), Brother Bear (32nd) Cold Mountain (37th), and Mystic River (46th) were nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature, or any of the directing, acting, or screenwriting.[36]

In light of the controversy surrounding the halftime show during Super Bowl XXXVIII, network ABC implemented a five-second tape delay to ensure that profanity and obscenity were not seen or heard.[37] AMPAS president Frank Pierson protested this decision in a written statement, stating, "Even a very brief tape-delay introduces a form of censorship into the broadcast—not direct governmental control, but it means that a network representative is in effect guessing at what a government might tolerate, which can be even worse."[38] In response, producer Joe Roth reiterated that censorship would only be applied to profanity and not political speeches.[39]

The show received a mixed reception from media publications. Chicago Tribune television critic Steve Johnson lamented that the show "felt almost numbingly familiar and disappointingly genteel." He also criticized broadcaster ABC's decision to implement the five-second tape delay.[40]Tom Shales of The Washington Post quipped that the ceremony "was about as entertaining as watching Jell-O congeal." He also added that the lack of surprises among the awards contributed to the dull atmosphere of the telecast.[41] Columnist Tim Goodman of San Francisco Chronicle bemoaned, "The 76th annual Academy Awards dragged on without much drama or comedy, sucking the life out of the event even while it was doing justice to the masterpiece that is The Lord of the Rings."[42]

Other media outlets received the broadcast more positively. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly praised Crystal's hosting performance saying that he "has located the perfect middle ground between Steve Martin's adroit silliness and Whoopi Goldberg's unapologetic hamminess." On the show itself, he said that it "managed to do what Hollywood may not have: convince us that this was a great year for the movies."[43] Film critic Andrew Sarris of The New York Observer wrote that the show was "the funniest and least tedious in memory." He also extolled producer Joe Roth by concluding, "As far as this old critic's concerned, Mr. Roth, you did a fine job."[44]USA Today critic Robert Bianco commented that despite the lack of suspense due to the Lord of the Rings sweep of the awards "Crystal was able to lace funny bits throughout the evening." He further lauded the show as "more glamorous and upbeat than last year's war-muted event, and decently paced."[45]

The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 43.56 million people over its length, which was a 26% increase from the previous year's ceremony.[46] An estimated 73.89 million total viewers watched all or part of the awards. The show also earned higher Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 26.68% of households watching over a 41.84 share.[47] In addition, it garnered a higher 18–49 demo rating with a 15.48 rating over a 38.79 share among viewers in that demographic.[47] It was the highest viewership for an Academy Award telecast since the 72nd ceremony held in 2000.[48]

In July 2004, the ceremony presentation received nine nominations at the 56th Primetime Emmys.[49] Two months later, the ceremony won one of those nominations for Louis J. Horvitz's direction of the telecast.[50][51]